Title: Entre Nous.

Author: thesundaywriter

Characters: Tomoka/Atobe.

Written for: whitelilies22 for the courtladies fic swap. Enjoy!

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: If the verse was mine, I obviously won't be writing fanfic about it P

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Entre Nous (definition) between us.

Oh no... This can't be happening…

She had just left to buy them some drinks at a nearby vending machine. It had only been a few minutes; and well, those two were no longer where she had left them.

They must be hiding somewhere, she thought.

Imitating a super villain from a cartoon, Tomoka laughed and exclaimed loudly "Hehe! Since those two are gone I can have all the chocolate milk to myself!"

A random passerby would probably have thought her insane as no one else appeared to be in the playground except for her

...And some random dog which was lazing a few feet away. It had a shiny brown coat and even while lying down, seemed as big as a small child. Tomoka almost shuddered slightly to think of the amount of slobber that would come from such a massive beast but quickly shook it off. It was not doing anything for her to be concerned with anyway.

When there came no reply, she made a show of slowly opening one of the cans. "Oh look! I'm opening it… And now, I'm going to drink it! It's all mine! Ahh, they have no idea what they're missing out on…" She raised it to her lips while constantly watching her surroundings from her peripheral vision.

The drink was nice and frothy, not too diluted with milk and not too chocolaty. She made a mental note to keep an eye out for it the next time she went to the supermarket .

This was just really strange. Both her brothers could never resist chocolate milk and rich foods; hence their mother had put them on a mini-diet for worry that they were getting too squishy. And so, whenever kaa-san wasn't around, they'd pester their sister to get them their favourite foods. Tomoka would usually be strict and say "no", but two against one just wasn't very fair; especially when said two were unbearably cute when they went all wide-eyed and 'innocently' pleading. Plus, denying them would sometimes result in utter chaos the next time she was left alone with them. She had given in to them today because she had forgotten to bring some water along to the park, and also they had been rather good.

…Until now, that is.

Growing a little annoyed she put her hands on her hips. "Tatsuo, Takeo!" She called in a firm tone, "if you want your chocolate milk you better come out now. I won't be buying it for awhile!"

Still no response. And this time, Tomoka became a little worried. Both of you, this isn't funny. Please come out from wherever you are!"

As she walked around the playground area calling their names, Tomoka was praying hard that this was all just a joke. And that those two, being the brats they are, were just hiding somewhere, waiting to spring her when she wasn't looking. Then she'd scold them and they'd laugh at her unnecessary frustrations, and everything would be as normal.

She was really concerned now. Her brothers, as mischievous as they were, would have at least come out for the milk by now. Resisting their favourite foods had never been one of their strong points.

"Tatsuo, Takeo!"

"Wuf!"

While she had been busy looking for her brothers, the dog had apparently rose from its position and come over to her. "Wuf!" It barked again and gave her a head butt; and because of its sheer size, the action made her stumble back a step.

"Not now, can't you see I'm busy."

She was about to start calling for her brothers again when titan dog, as she had mentally dubbed it, on fours it already came up to her waist, dropped the thing it had been chewing on her feet. Tomoka picked the object out without thinking. It was a red rubber ball and it was covered in dog slobber. "Ewww…"

Then she realized it was the same ball that her brothers had been playing with. Wait a minute…

"Wuf!" She looked at titan; who was innocently grinning, as much as a dog can grin, up at her, baring his massive front teeth in the process. Really, who in their right mind would want such an enormous dog… Tomoka was generally alright around animals… But seriously, that thing was easily as tall as a four or five year old…

as tall as…

The weirdest thought came to her mind… she stared it one some more,

and then she totally lost it.

"Oh my god! You ate them didn't you!"

Later, Tomoka would find herself blushing in embarrassment at having even thought of such a thing, but currently her worry for her brothers was causing her to spazz out. She started shrieking at the shaggy titan, which just continued giving her a friendly befuddled look. It seemed to find her frustration highly amusing and started barking back as if it were laughing.

Eventually, it appeared to get bored; clearly this human wasn't going to play catch with him anytime soon and trotted off. How dare it go away like that, when I'm not done with it. Tomoka shrieked and chased after it, eventually stopping as the dog had squeezed between some bushes and went out of sight.

It was then that she realized that she had been extremely childish for thinking a dog would have eaten her brothers. And that her irrationality had led her further away from the playground, where she should stay incase her brothers returned to find her.

She was chiding herself as she made her way back to the playground. So lost in thought was she that she walked right into someone around a blind corner.

At this point, she couldn't really care. It was that entirely that dog's fault. If it hadn't been at the playground in the first place, she wouldn't have thought of such an outrageous thought in the first place, and she wouldn't have chased after it and wandered further away. Now she was tired from the running, worried for her brothers and frustrated.

"Stupid dog." She muttered, as she straightened her blouse.

"Excuse me," the other exclaimed indignantly. "But you shouldn't go around calling people names, especially when you've just walked into them."

"What? Oh. I wasn't referring to you. I'm sorry." Tomoka explained before walking around him, or at least she tried to, but he blocked her.

She crossed her arms. "Oh what now… I already said I was sorry! So will you please move? I'm sorta in a hurry."

"Hmph. You are lucky that ore-sama currently does not have the time to demand for a proper apology."

Tomoka was getting increasingly frustrated. "Well then", she retorted sarcastically "if 'ore-sama' is so busy, then would he be so kind as to move out of my way so that we can both go wherever we're going?"

Inside she was thinking; Geesh! What's up with this guy and who does he think he is to go around addressing himself as ore-sama. He's just like that weird Hyoutei captain. Minus the crazy stalker fan club.

"That would be ideal. However ore-sama needs to ask one question before he can allow you to pass."

"What is it?"

"Have you seen my dog?"

Tomoka was all ready to give a quick "no" when she stopped. "Dog?" she repeated; as if to make sure she had heard it correctly.

"Yes, my dog. He's about nay high and wide and is tan in colour." He described, gesturing with his hands. "And he's wearing a purple collar with costume jewelry diamonds that spell Talos."

So the shaggy titan belonged to him. "That monster has a name?" Tomoka didn't realize she had said her thoughts out loud until the guy spoke retorted in a disapproving tone. "Why, what's wrong with it, ore-sama chose the name from his readings of Greek mythology. For your information; Talos was a giant created by Zeus himself to protect his lover in Krete. His name means sun- don't you agree it suits him? Ore-sama is good at choosing names ahn? "

"Yeah, whatever… spare the history lesson… I saw your giant mutt… I mean Talos" she quickly corrected at the boy's annoyed look; well, she thought he looked annoyed anyway. His cap and hoodie shadowed most of his face, so all she saw were the creases in his frown. "… around the playground area when I was looking for my brothers. Then he ran away and that was the last I saw of him…"

"Ahh, I see."

They stood there in a moment of awkward silence before Tomoka spoke up.

"Yups. Well, sorry I couldn't be of better help and once again, sorry for crashing into you! I better go now ja… and good luck in finding your dog!" She turned and began to walk away.

"Hey wait… I should give you my number… incase you find Talos."

"Erm… very well then." Tomoka whipped out her cell phone and keyed in the number she entered. "Name please?"

"Atobe Keigo."

It took a mere second to register what she had just typed; and a few more for everything else to link in her head- the name, the voice, the dog and its tacky purple collar, plus how many other people did she know that addressed themselves as ore-sama in every other sentence, and talked like they owned the world- for the first time, she looked carefully at the guy in front of her.

"Oh.my.god. You're Atobe Keigo! Ahhhhh!"

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For a moment, Atobe thought that the strange girl had totally lost it. So she had heard of him before? Part of him was thinking- please don't tell me she's another of those crazy fan girls. Another part of him was cringing because she sure had some lung power; he could swear that she screamed twice as loud as some of his most ardent fans in Hyoutei Gakuen's Atobe fanclub. And if she was a fan, he seriously hoped there weren't more of them with her. He was really self conscious of being seen the getup he was in. Of course ore-sama looked good in everything he wore; but he was still trying to get used to his lack of… hair. Though he wouldn't admit it, taking up that Seigaku brat's dare was the stupidest thing he had ever done.

Eventually he just stepped forward, grasped her shoulders looked right at her. "Oh just calm down and breathe. People might think you are being attacked or worse. I can't afford to deal with the press right now..."

Tomoka stopped at the contact of his hands on her shoulders, and then took hasty a step backwards. She didn't want anyone to have the wrong impression about the too of them.

"Right, sorry about that." She said awkwardly. "I just didn't expect to see someone like you at this kind of place. "Besides," she added more boldly, "don't you normally have a whole entourage following you? Like your bodyguards, servants, fans… and that big guy… what's his name again… ah yes, Kabaji."

Atobe looked at her in amusement. "Ore-sama enjoys going out to appreciate nature once in a while too you know, though ore-sama's estate and Hyoutei have more than adequate grounds, sometimes training at the same places all the time can be quite boring. Today ore-sama felt he needed a change of scenery and decided to come here. And as for the entourage, you can be rest assured that ore-sama has body guards covering all entrances of the park. If anyone tries to harm ore-sama, ore-sama will contact them immediately."

"Ah…" Tomoka crossed her arms. "If you're training, then why did you bring your dog with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with ore-sama giving his dog a walk while jogging at the same time is there?" Atobe frowned.

"Erm, no, I guess not… but then why didn't you keep him on a leash or something? Then he wouldn't have run off like that."

"Hmph. Ore-sama has no need for leashes. Talos has had some of the best obedience instructor ore-sama could find."

"Well then, if your dog is so good then why did he run away…"

Atobe sighed. "Talos is a good dog… most of the time… expect when it comes to two things; food and squirrels. We were running together when he suddenly sniffed stopped, sniffed something in the air and bounded off. Ore-sama would have followed him only he went through some bush that ore-sama could not have possibly fit through. Plus my clothes would have gotten dirty. Anyway, worse come to worst, I'll get guards to track him using the chip in his ear."

Tomoka wasn't done yet. "And by the way, what's with that getup? Covering yourself up like that, it looks suspicious!"

Great. Did she have to bring that subject up?

"Well, if you must ore-sama is trying to find a new look to fit his new hairstyle. So until then, ore-sama will keep veiled." It was the best excuse he could think of at that time.

"Ooh, really? Can I see it? I promise I won't tell anyone. Besides, even if I told anyone I doubt they'd believe me."

She had a point; and everyone was going too see it sooner or later anyway…

"If you were at the nationals… all I did was trim it a little when I got back." He pulled back his hoodie and removed his cap, unable to look at her.

Feeling awkward and somewhat embarrassed, he quickly put his cap and hood back on and hastily, changed the topic before she even had the chance to comment on his new hairdo "Ok, enough of that. Hey didn't you say you were with your two brothers?"

"Yes. And 'were' being the word here. They were feeling thirsty and wanted me to buy them some chocolate milk, so I went, and when I came back they weren't there anymore… and what are you doing!" she yelped as he suddenly placed his hands on her shoulders and steered her down the path.

"Walk and talk. Ore-sama doesn't have time to dally here all day. Plus if we're both looking for something we can kill two birds with one stone. So go on, you were saying about your brothers? I take it they're younger than you?"

"Yes, I have two younger brothers. And normally I wouldn't dream of leaving them by themselves, but because since okaa-san put them on a diet, they only get to eat and drink what they like on rare occassions… they have been good this week and not caused any trouble at home, so I thought I'd indulge them a bit. I thought; what's the worst that could happen in a few minutes… the vending machine was only around the corner, but when I got there I realized I didn't have enough coins and had to go to a nearby ice-cream seller to get loose change. And then when I finally went back…" her voice trailed off.

At first, Atobe thought that she was going to start crying, the prospect of which sort of scared him, because he had no idea how to deal with crying girls. Sure, girls had cried in front of him before, over him rejecting them after they had confessed their love for him; but usually he'd just give a charming smile, hand and tell them he'd appreciated their efforts. An autographed photo of himself helped too.

But this was a much different situation. He somehow doubted that a smile and photo would soothe her. After all, she had lost her brothers and obviously felt guilty for it. So now… what could he say…

"Darnit!" she suddenly exclaimed angrily, and he almost jerked in surprise. "I can't believe I let that happen! What if they got kidnapped or something! My parents will be so mad at me if I can't find them. Argh! I'm such an idiot!" She kicked a pebble on the ground in frustrated.

Throughout her tirade, Atobe simply stared at her in shock; while relieved that she hadn't started crying as he thought she would, the Hyoutei captain certainly did not expect this either.

"Well, don't worry too much. I mean," he explained when she arched a quizzical eyebrow at him. "Seeing that they have a spunky sister such as you, I've sure they'd know how to look after themselves."

She glared at him. "Was that meant to be an insult?"

He stared back, slightly taken aback, "Of course not, look what I meant was that…" he suddenly heard something in the distance and stopped. "Hey, hey gestured to her, did you…"

"Spunky? You mean I'm not girly enough or something?" Tomoka was annoyed. "I assure you I can be very girly…mmph!" she was suddenly silenced when he clamped a hand around her mouth. "Oh do be quiet, don't you ever stop talking?"

Speak for yourself. She wanted to retort back, but couldn't since his hand obstructed her from doing so. She seethed for a moment, then realized he was trying to tell her something. So she stilled and listened, like what he said.

She could hear faint noises from not far off, and it sounded like the voices of children screaming; and another deep set of noises that sounded like an animal. They weren't near enough for her to make out their voices, but a spark of hope shot through her… Could it be?

She broke free of Atobe's grip; not that he was being held tightly anyway, and ran in the direction the voices were coming from. She was determined rescue them from whatever was attacking them!

"Tatsuo! Takeo! Hang on! Nee-san is coming to save you!"

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However when Tomoka arrived at the scene, it was much different from what she had been dreading.

"Ahhh! Help me! It's got me!"

"I think it likes you Tatsuo!" Takeo laughed as he watched his twin brother squirming to get away from the huge dog that had tackled the former to the ground and was now licking at his face affectionately.

Tatsuo wasn't as fond of dogs as Takeo was due to the fact that when he was younger, a dog chased him, but it was because Tatsuo had was eating a meat bun. And up till now, despite what everyone had tried to console him, Tatsuo had honestly believed that dog had tried to eat him. He had been only three years old at that time after all; and to get chased by a hungry dog, even if it was only a Jack Russell, is not a nice experience.

"Well, whatever, just get him away. We need to find nee-san anyway before she realizes we're missing, and I want my chocolate milk!"

"Oh, you guys are definitely not getting any chocolate milk or treats from me for awhile!" the irritated voice made them whirl around in fright. Uh-oh… "Nee-san!" they both exclaimed, and then looked awkwardly at each other.

Tomoka was so relieved that both her brothers were still alive and kicking, but also very annoyed that they had ran off and made her worry for nothing. She crossed her arms and looked crossly at them "Explain."

It turned out that while Tomoka was away, some weird guy had approached them, offering them sweets but they declined, but he refused to go away; instead he seemed to be moving closer to them when Talos had come out from nowhere, stood between them and started growling at the suspicious man, who backed away, probably thinking that it was their dog. In their fright, they had run away, gotten lost while trying to find their way back when they met their shaggy saviour again and had sort of forgotten about their situation and decided to play with the dog.

During this, Tomoka couldn't help but tear a little. Her brothers could have been in a lot of danger! And it was her fault for leaving them alone! If she hadn't gone away then that weird dude wouldn't have approached them. Takeo noticed this and walked up to her, tugging her hand, "Nee-san, I'm sorry, I was the one who chased after the dog. Tatsuo didn't really have a choice and just followed me. Please don't be mad at him… and are you crying? Why is Nee-san crying?"

Tomoka dried her eyes quickly and smiled. "I'm just very glad that you boys are safe. You're my brothers after all."

"Now that everyone's happy, can someone please get this dog off me?" Tatsuo called from his position.

"Talos! Here boy!" At the sound of his master's voice, the Newfoundland immediately bounded off the boy and ran to Atobe, who chastised him softly as he patted the great beast's head. "Never go off like that again, understand? Ore-sama does not like to be worried."

Talos simply wuffed at Atobe and wagged his tail happily.

"Well" he smirked at Tomoka, "Looks like your brothers are both alive and well. See? Ore-sama told you not to worry too much."

"Erm. Atobe-san…" she began awkwardly. "Thank you for helping me and listening to my ranting. I'm afraid I must have been bothering you more than helping."

"It's fine." He replied. It's been awhile since I've been able to talk to a girl without them staring dreamily at me and telling me how great I am.

"Ahh!" Tomoka exclaimed looking at her watch. "Look at the time! Tatsuo, Takeo; we better get back before Oka-san comes looking for us!" She grabbed both of her brothers by the hand. "Bye Atobe-san! Oh, and by the way, I think you look better without that cap on!"

With that, she turned and walked away with her brothers. Atobe watched as they disappeared down the path they had come from, looking as if he was thinking about something. Then he reached up and took his hood and cap off. He smirked.

"Come Talos. Let's go home."

"Wuf!"

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